Settling in and Hunkering Down

We’ve now joined you all who are sheltering in place, and we’re relieved to have found a spot to do so!

Since now I see what it’s like to have time on one’s hands, I’ll post here often even though I don’t have beautiful photos of adventures or thrilling updates. It’ll give me something to do and you something to read. 🙂

Here’s our “rig,” as they say, leaving the storage lot and headed out—big moment for us! It’s hard for me to get the truck and trailer all in one shot, but the trailer is definitely longer than the truck.

Settling In

We landed in a private campground in central Virginia: not particularly private or beautiful, but our spot right now looks out over a small field, which gives Banjo a place to sniff around, and we have full hook-ups (meaning we’re connected to the campground’s electricity, water, and sewer).

The only input/output items we have to keep an eye on are our grey and black waste tanks, but there is a dump station here on the campground, and our propane, which I’m hoping we can refill somewhere nearby.

Our first day was warm and sunny, yay! Of course we enjoyed a much-deserved beer after having spent hours that morning parked in storage getting the Airstream ready to roll, then driving to the campground, and finally spending maybe an hour setting everything up.

Each time we do it we’ll get faster at it, but we still need to follow a checklist to be sure we don’t miss a step and do something like have the trailer fall off the hitch as we pull away.

When it’s warm outside, this is Banjo’s favorite spot.

Hunkering Down

News in the RV world is that state parks (and park campgrounds) are continuing to close across the country, and we’re a bit worried about a mandatory shelter in place order being launched when we’re not in a good spot.

This campground isn’t ideal, but we do have everything we need here, so I spent all day yesterday working with Joya, the super-friendly reservations coordinator, as she solved a logistics puzzle for us so we could stay until April 30 (that’s the day we know if the house closes and therefore if we can head to Texas or need a new plan entirely).

This campground is one of the few here open all year, so construction workers live here who work on installing local solar farms, and lots of people keep their campers here year-round to come on the weekends. So there are a lot of people here.

And while I was working out the schedule/available sites puzzle with Joya, her phone rang constantly with people trying to find a camp spot. One family is building their house so living in their RV and desperate to find a campground that would not close. Other stories I could hear only through the panicked tone coming through Joya’s phone.

And yet she stood there with me while putting them on hold and patiently gave me options for campsites throughout the next month. After Tracy and Banjo and I scoped them all out, we came up with a plan that involves moving the trailer only three times. The bummer is that the site we’ll have from April 10 through 20 isn’t tucked away private-like, but if we can get our hands on a pop-up tent and some sheets, we might be able to rig some privacy, music-festival style.

Life Inside in the Cold

Since the first couple of days, we’ve been “making house,” which means finding things we need that we had shoved in weird places when we left, plus learning to cook in the kitchen and, most important, making margaritas with the few limes we have left.

If you visit us, please bring limes!

Here’s planning central—and Tracy’s Al Pastor tacos, since we do have a pineapple. Delicious. I’m so lucky to be holed up with a stellar bartender and cook.

And as you can see, I’m getting used to this lifestyle very quickly.

Okay, we’re off to find a local place to hike. Although we should spend the day inside reading the bazillion manuals that came with the Airstream, we need to get outside too, and it’s right there …